Course Description

What is the relationship between creativity, sexuality and the cycles of our lives? How does energy move, as creative and sexual expression, and how does she get blocked? What is the relationship between rest and activity in relation to our creative and sexual cycles? What is the nature of Shakti and how has she been constrained? How can we understand the movements of Shakti? How can the Great Wisdom Goddesses Kamalatmika (the lotus goddess of delight) and Matangi (the wild outcaste poet) support our understanding of creative and sexual energies?

This experiential day long workshop is open to all women and yoga teachers, yoga therapists and health care practitioners who are seeking to support positive experiences of creativity and sexuality in women’s lives, either for themselves personally, or for their students and clients.

The day counts as continuing professional development (CPD) for teachers who have completed prior trainings with Uma, and can also count towards CPD points for general yoga teachers and therapists, depending upon the requirements of their professional associations. Health care practitioners, psychotherapists, sexological body workers and coaches with an interest in yoga, sexuality and creativity are also welcome to attend, provided they have a living interest in and practice of yoga.

The intention of this day is to provide practical experience of breath (pranayama), rhythmic and restorative yoga postures (asana), gestures (mudra), heart-based meditations (yoga nidra) and deep, joyful heart songs (kirtan) that promote healthy creative and sexual energies. Supportive sequences of integrated yoga postures will be taught, and there will be time for discussion. An overview of common creative and sexual challenges and opportunities will be discussed in relation to appropriate yogic responses. By the end of the day, participants will have an understanding of the key practical and theoretical yoga-tantra responses that are helpful to support the expression of women’s creativity and sexuality.

There will be plenty of opportunity for questions and discussions. The programme is open to responsive, intuitive attunements and adjustments to meet the specific needs of those attending.

Creativity, Sexuality and the Cycles of Our Lives

Address

About Sitaram Studio

This venue in Stroud is Uma and Nirlipta's home.

Please note that you are welcome to arrive up to 30min before the course start time, but not before then.

Please also note that their home is also home to two friendly and sociable border collies. If you enjoy canine company you will be very happy indeed, but if you don’t like dogs, then you might be better off attending a course at another location.

What to Bring

The studio is warm and very well equipped with mats, bolsters, blankets, cushions, sheepskins and eye pillows and blocks, so you do not need to bring any yoga kit at all with you, unless you are especially attached to your own blanket/sheepskin, in which case, please do bring them along too to be extra super comfy. Please also bring walking boots or wellies (if you do not have any we have lots of spares you can borrow in most sizes), also waterproof coats and maybe hats and trousers too – even in the summer the weather can be unpredictable.

Local Accommodation

There are a number of options here:

Local B&B’s recommended by previous students
• Anna Thornhill offers a peaceful single room with great views in Bowbridge Lane, 10 minutes on foot from Gunhouse Lane. £25 per night bed and breakfast. Evening meals can also be provided on request. Contact: Anna 01453 298917 or email: anna.thornhill@yahoo.com
• Gillian Winstone has a BnB room with a double bed and en suite bathroom, a 5 minute walk from the studio. It has it’s own entrance via lovely courtyard garden. Very clean and cosy. £50 per night – contact gillianwinstone@gmail.com or 07970 945660
• Anne Mackintosh at 6 Castle Villas, can be contacted on ahmack@btinternet.com or call 01453 766273
• The Imperial Hotel by Stroud Station, on Station Road is a five minute drive away (or 22min walk), they charge from £59 per night – contact 01453 764077 or info@imperialhotelstroud.co.uk – www.imperialhotelstroud.co.uk
• The Yew Tree in Brimscombe is a six minute drive away (or 35min walk) and they charge from £50 a night – contact 01453 887980 or info@theyewtreestroud.co.uk – www.theyewtreestroud.co.uk
• Mandy of Vale House in Chalford Vale is a ten minute drive away (07766 525664) she charges £69 a night for a single www.valehousebedandbreakfast.net
• Pammy Michell and her partner have a small double bedroom and an attic room available in their vegetarian home in Horns Road (approx. 15min walk away) – quiet house, no pets. Contact her directly on 01453 299248 or 0795 861 3093 or pammichell@googlemail.com
• There are also many other AirBnB options if you look on the site: www.airbnb.co.uk

Brownshill Monastery
Simple rooms are sometimes available in the guest house at Brownshill Monastery, about a fourteen minute drive away www.bernardine.org/brownshill-hospitality. The Cistercian nuns here have been very welcoming to our students in the past, and have hosted a number of Womb Yoga and Total Yoga Nidra courses, so if you tell them you are doing a retreat with Uma then they will know what you are doing – you can contact them through their website, phone 01453 883084 or email brownshillbookings@bernardine.org

Local Campsite
Uma highly recommends the beautiful and local Thistledown campsite in Nymphsfield as an option for those who wish to camp or bring a campervan. From £12 a night – prebooking essential. www.thistledown.org.uk

Camping in the Garden
It is possible that Uma and Nirlipta can accommodate up to 4 tents in their garden during the summer months, if you would like to camp during your course please contact Sivani on sivani@wombyoga.org or sivani@yoganidranetwork.org
Please note, if you are camping:
• You need to bring your own tent, bedding and any other camping equipment you might need
• Camping is only an option on the nights within your course hours (for instance, if your course
starts on 10am on Friday and finishes on Sunday afternoon, you can stay Friday and Saturday
night but not the nights before or after the course finishes)
• You are welcome to use the lovely shower/bathroom on the ground floor during your stay
• You are welcome to offer a contribution if you are camping, suggested £15 per night in cash

If you are not driving to Stroud and will need transport back and forth from your accommodation to the studio, it often happens that another student with a car may be able to drop you, this of course can not be guaranteed. Uma recommends the local cab company Wonky Wheels 01453 767678 (landline) or 07986 562691 (mobile) – www.wonkyswheels.co.uk

Directions to Sitaram Studio

Airplane
You can either fly to Bristol Airport, from there you would need to get a bus into Bristol to Bristol Temple Meads station, then a train from there to Swindon and from Swindon to Stroud. The journey takes approximately 2hours to 2hours40min depending on connections.
The other possibility is to fly to London Heathrow. From there you get the train in to London Paddington and then you can get a direct train to Stroud (or with one change at Swindon). The journey takes approximately 2hours 30min.
See below for information of what to do once you get to Stroud.
It is cheaper to book trains in advance, you can get train times and ticket information on:http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/service/planjourney/search

Train / Bus
The studio is one mile east from Stroud station.
If you want us to pick you up at the station please text Nirlipta on 07885 905900 and tell him what time your train comes in. If you are coming on a train from London please stay on the same platform on which you alight - no need to cross the bridge. If you are coming from Cheltenham side please cross over the bridge and we will pick you up on the other side.

Car
From London M4 and then off at Junction 15 to take the A419 to Swindon, Cirencester and Stroud.
From Bristol, and Wales, M4 East and then A46 to Stroud, then A419 to Cirencester.
From the Midlands and the North, M5 South then A419 to Stroud (follow signs through Stroud to Cirencester).
From the Southwest, M5 North then A419 to Stroud,

Gunhouse lane is a turn off the A419 London Road that runs from Stroud to Cirencester.(on your right coming in from Cirencester and on your left heading out from Stroud). At the bottom of the lane is Topps Tiles. Drive right up to the very top of the lane, over three sneaky speed bumps. Tanglewood is at the top.
Tanglewood is right at the very top of GUNHOUSE LANE, where it carries straight on and turns into a track and behind a five bar gate.Please do not follow the top of Gunhouse lane around to the left - this leads to Thrupp House - this is NOT Uma and Nirlipta's house.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DO NOT PARK IN FRONT OF THE BIG HOUSE AT THE TOP ON THE LEFT OF THE LANE, this annoys the neighbours.
PLEASE DRIVE RIGHT ON UP THE BUMPY TRACK INTO OUR DRIVE and park up
You can see the house from the top of the lane when you drive along the bumpy track has a circular window in the eaves.
there. - it
THOSE OF YOU DRIVING – please note, there is only space for a few cars at Uma and Nirlipta's home. Some of you will be able to park at the house, but if all you drive, most of you will need then park in BOWBRIDGE LANE - you can drop off your stuff, go and park and then walk back up hill.

Registration info

Creativity, Sexuality and the Cycles of Our Lives

Cost

The cost of this day workshop is £83 including lunch

Booking

Statement of Inclusion

Are you pregnant? Breastfeeding? Do you have young children? Or perhaps you want to know more about your eligibility – Please see our Statement of Inclusion which is a genuine welcome from Uma and details the appropriate support for women considering attending any of her courses.

Coursework

Creativity, Sexuality and the Cycles of Our Lives

Pre-course Preparation

For this one-day workshop, there is recommended pre-course reading and listening freely downloadable or available to purchase by clicking on the the links below.

Listening

Reading

This session is informed by extensive research into the history and politics of yoga, and it reclaims for women’s bodies, the practices that nourish our source and heal the disconnections that we often experience as women living in a man’s world. The cycles of energy and the rhythms of sexual and creative pleasures that the session explores are rooted in menstruality consciousness, an awareness of the cycles of creativity and sexual patterns of arousal, desire, satiation and disinterest.

Optional suggested course reading (before, during and after the day workshop): Yoni Shakti by Dr. Uma Dinsmore-Tuli PhD (this is the key text for reference during this day workshop)